The first thing that struck us, is that Nivlhel hails from Skellefteå, the magnificent bay in Sweden that also inspires Vintersorg to come up with eminent musical efforts. Thus the expectations were high when having our first encounter with the duo Isar and Fjalar who operate under the moniker Nivlhel. After last year’s demo ‘Ur Vrede Född’, they have released late May their self-titled debut album with eleven songs, all called ‘vrede’ followed by a Roman figure.

This album is a dream come true, an amazing musical journey for the pagan metal fans. The songs are heavy and sturdy, relished with melodious leads and the raucous voice of Isar fits in the blackened idiom, without getting into irritant screams. Thus it is the voice of a heathen warrior, in some of the songs supported by some clean chants of Fjalar. Then one can speak of Viking choirs or harmony vocals, which leads to exceptional beauty in ‘Vrede I’ and occluding track ‘Vrede VI’. Now and then a dark narrative voice looms up, while the longer instrumental parts always go into epic crescendo. The whole thing remains ferocious, yet always with melodic touch. In ‘Vrede VIII’ an acoustic fragment is followed by a scream and they round off with a drum outro. We thought of Iskald from time to time, but also bands like Kampfar and Helheim sound a bit alike. Anyways, this is highly recommended for every pagan metal fan!